The (Long) Story of a Handmade Quilt

Towards the end of our first semester in Vancouver I (Bronwyn) took a study break and wandered up to visit the (dangerously tempting) quilt shop nearby. After rummaging through the remnant bins I left the shop with $20-worth of various flannelette off-cuts and the beginnings of a plan to make a quilt!

Due to lack of a sewing machine, my idea was to hand-sew a lap quilt from these scraps so I could use it to keep warm when I sit and study. Nathan has encouraged me to document the quilt-making process so you can all vicariously share its warmth. So here goes...

After washing and drying all the fabric (so it won't shrink if washed in the future) I cut hundreds of 2.5 inch squares from it.

Then I tacked (used big stitches to secure) the fabric squares around a paper template - in my case some 2 inch square post-it notes!

When all my remnants (plus a few from my friend, Holly) were converted to 284 little stiff squares my desk wasn't really conducive to much study anymore. The squares were set aside until the end of the semester!

When I picked them up again, I spread the squares randomly on the floor and decided I needed a background fabric. From there, I manoeuvred the squares into a checkerboard formation with a large feature square at each corner. I then recorded this pattern on a piece of paper to maintain the "random" placement of colours.

With Holly, I hunted in fabric stores across Vancouver for a background colour to blend in with the existing fabric. I think we walked 5km that day and bussed a fair few more! The expedition was ultimately successful, as we found the perfect solution at a bargain fabric shop after a tip from a teenage boy on one of the buses. He didn't look like the type who quilted!

283 khaki-striped squares tacked to post-its later, we were back in NZ. I was ready to start sewing the pieces together! This involved putting the right sides of two tacked squares facing each other. Then I sewed along one side of the squares, joining them by catching together just the fabrics (not the paper inside) with my needle and thread. When folded open the squares were joined. Another square was put right side to one of the joined squares, and another seam sewn. When each square was completely surrounded by other squares, the tacking stitches were removed and the paper pulled out.

As our months in Wellington passed, in between teaching jobs and socialising, the joined squares came to resemble the pattern I had noted on paper back in Vancouver. Technically I was only doing the patchwork - joining the patches together. By the end of June, with the addition of a strip of background fabric on each side, the patchworked quilt top was finished. That was a good feeling!

A further shopping expedition resulted in the purchase of some batting (the fluffy polyester filling) and a large piece of black flannelette for the reverse side of the quilt. Here you can see the white batting overhanging from the edge of my quilt.

Quilting is the act of binding the three layers (top, batting, and backing) together. Initially this is also done with long tacking stitches, just to hold the layers together while a more intricate pattern is stitched. I chose to stitch a circle around each of the coloured squares, not the background fabric ones - I'm not a glutton for punishment! Here you can see the white paper circle I pinned on to guide my stitches.

It was easier to stitch when the layers of fabric and batting were taut, so I used a giant embroidery hoop to hold them in place. I got pretty fast at completing each circle - I think about 8 minutes was my best time. It was a good activity to have while we had long conversations with our parents in Palmerston North and Feilding during July. I had hoped to have finished this stage by the time we left NZ but I didn't quite make it. With less than 20 circles to quilt, it was packed in our suitcase again.

Back in Vancouver the summer weather put me off for a few days. It sure gets warm under a quilt when you're sewing! When I'd acclimatised, I finished the circles and began sewing some satin blanket ribbon around the edge of the quilt, still binding the layers together. Here you can see the post-it note I used as a guide to try to keep the border an even width.


Eventually, the quilt was quilted and the satin binding was attached. At last the tacking threads that had initially bound the layers of the quilt together were removed.



The next step was to cut off the excess batting and backing fabric.

Then I folded the ribbon over the raw edges and attached it to the back of the quilt, trying to hide any unsightly stitches!


Here is a picture of a corner, showing some detail of the more decorative circle stitching on the feature square, as well as the ribbon binding.




Nathan insisted on taking a picture of the very last stitch!




Of course, a quilt isn't finished until it is signed and dated. Again you can see the decorative quilting in the corner.

And here is the well-travelled finished product out in the summer sunshine in our Vancouver backyard. Now the quilt is neatly folded up on our couch, waiting for some cooler weather to prompt me to snuggle up in its warmth. If you've managed to read the whole of this blog-post, you'll be feeling some of the relief I felt at finally finishing my project!

The only problem is that now Nathan is wanting me to finish the first quilt project I started... perhaps when a study break is needed... you know, quilts do fly!